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Topic: Mead shelf life (Read 9067 times)

I have just bottled my first attempt at mead and was wondering what an expected shelf life could be? I used Flagstaff, AZ Camelthorn honey and Champayne yeast. O.G. was 1.110 and F.G. was 1.010 making it about 13% ABV and the PH was 3.2. I am only attempting to carbinated a 9 of the bottles to see how it turns out.

I recently opened a 15 year old bottle of mead, and it was beyond fantastic. That said, in general I never open a bottle of mead until it is 5 years old. 10 years is even better.

If you follow Staggered Nutrient Additons and control temperature you will not have to age the mead 3-5 years to mellow out the fusal alcohols. That said, laying down a mead for years is one of the benefits of the hobby.

If you follow Staggered Nutrient Additons and control temperature you will not have to age the mead 3-5 years to mellow out the fusal alcohols. That said, laying down a mead for years is one of the benefits of the hobby.

Yeah, to paraphrase Kris England and Curt Stock "Off-flavors smooth with time. So do mountains. Do it right from the start." Don't expect every mead to improve with age. Meads, like wines, will peak at different times. Maybe it's 10 years, maybe it's two years, maybe it's 6 months. If you wait 10 years for a mead that peaked in two years, you'll be disappointed.

I'm the only person I know that likes mead so I don't brew it often. So I have about 6 bottles of my 1994 left, about 6 of my 1996, and a bunch of the batches I made in 2002,2004 and 2006. All of these meads are still very good, none have peaked and deteriorated yet.I'm gonna make a batch of prickly pear mead tomorrow.

If you intend to age a mead for 10-15 years, I strongly recommend a high quality cork - 1 1/2" or 1 3/4" and grade 2 or better. The cap and agglomerated corks are intended for wines destined for a shelf/cellar life of 5 years or less.

KDS

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